here's brian now with the news edge at 11:00. >> we'll start off with a local survivor of the italian cruise ship disaster as details continue to emerge about the deadly accident and the clean- up efforts. a woman that grew up in our area is telling her harrowing story about how she made it off the ship. fox 5's will thomas in the newsroom. you spoke with her worried father? >> we traveled to charlestown, west virginia, a father telling us he's grateful his daughter didn't listen to the crew inch constructions telling her to go to -- instructions telling her to go to her room and listen for an announcement. just a few hours after boarding the ship she's sitting in the grand dining room having dinner, then the crash, a jolt, dishes flying and the ship begins to tilt. >> i think it was roughly an hour, 15 minutes, maybe an hour and a half between when we felt the initial jolt and when we finally made it off the boat. reporter: martha manuel

speaking from her home in germany recalls the terrifying ordeaget off this sinking ship. keep in mind martha doesn't swim. that was a fear of yours? >> that is what was driving us to go to our rooms. we had seen our life jackets. they store them in the closets because i didn't think i would be able to make it all the way to shore if it came to that without a life jacket. reporter: fortunately martha found a life jacket next to a lifeboat and didn't have to return to her room. the 29-year-old grew up in charlestown, west virginia, where her father spoke. >> my daughter said i was in front of a lifeboat andly a life jacket on and i wasn't going anywhere. it could have been a tragedy. i understand that, too but we were extremely lucky, especially that she's self- reliant and it appeared to me that the best course of action on that ship was every man and woman for themselves. reporter: martha travels the world as an architect for the army corps of engineers.

her sense of adventure may have paid off when she became strand on the tuscany land of giglio. >> i walked off the boat with the clothes on my back and we ended up staying in a church on the island until sunrise the next day and we didn't have coats. so it was extremely cold. reporter: as the truth emerges about the captain refusing orders from the italian port authority to get back on board to help with the evacuation, martha and her father believe he should pay dearly. >> from what i've heard, especially the dialogue between him and the port authority, it's fairly disturbing. >> totally don't understand why a person in such a very important position would do something as idiotic and as hair brained as that. reporter: the ship legally had 24 hours to conduct a passenger safety drill. it was supposed to happen the very next day. martha, her father and so many other survivors who have been

interviewed are saying the safety drill should occur before the ship even shreveport, as it does routinely in the -- even leaves port as it does routinely in the u.s. >> the search for survivors remains on hold after electronic equipment detected the cruise ship had tilted. the ship must be stable before crews can resume their search. italian prosecutors are working to get the ship's captain back behind bars. he's on house arrest but prosecutors worry he'll try to disappear. a news alert at home that could help solve a deadly hit and run. it happened january 6th on oxon hill road in oxon hill. a car hit mildred freeman and michael thomas sr. walking to a bus stop. the victims died. importantly police now say the car that hit them is possibly a dark colored chevrolet cavalier or geo prism with damage to the grille or headlights. a bethesda mother is

accused of leaving her young daughter alone in an apartment off rock forest drive. the 6-year-old girl was trying to cook something tonight, began smoking, the alarm went off and a neighbor called 9/11 and found the girl wandering in the hallway. a d.c. police sergeant facing felony charges accused of attacking a female bartender at georgino's restaurant and bar in south east. >> sergeant yurell washington is on paid administrative leave while he fights the charges. witnesses say sergeant washington was off duty and had been drinking at that bar all day. they said things turned ugly when he cursed at a female bartender. her son heard him, asked about it and the two began to argue and when the bartender got involved to try and get her son away from the cop, witnesses said he turned on her slamming her to the ground.

the attack continued outside in the parking lot. >> she's bruised real bad. her shoulders hurt. all we know is that she's bruised real bad. she went to the emergency room this afternoon. >> she's not just a co-worker. she's a family member. we're all interrelated one way or another and it was a terrible thing, you know. >> the police report claims the two dated four years ago. the victim denies that. sergeant washington is due back in court february eighth. an all out manhunt for this woman in the surveillance video you're about to see. montgomery county investigators say she forced an elderly woman to withdraw thousands of dollars from her account at the bank of america in langley park. during a news conference today the 84-year-old victim who didn't want her face shown said she was duped by the suspect who lured her in with a story that touched her heart. >> i just think it's a shame for people to -- you try to help somebody and then they turn around and mistreat you. i don't think that's fair to us

old folks. we're not stupid. we're not dumb. we just try to help people. >> investigators are offering a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. three days until voters head to the polls in south carolina and the five gop presidential candidates are not holding back on the attacks. mitt romney issued a slam to newt gingrich claiming he's attacking free enterprise just like president obama. romney is under attack, too his rivals demanding i release his tax returns. all -- he release his tax returns. all these attacks means the candidates are not wasting time in the palmetto state. they are all running as. reporter: as presidential candidates blanket south carolina and political ads blast from television sets, politics dominates daily life and casual conversation. >> i think it is a very political community and a diverse community. reporter: at the grill some hunger for more.

>> i think divided. there's a lot of social issues that affect a lot of people. the economy is up there in the top row. reporter: what is it you want from these candidates? >> answers. more than just i can beat obama, which really doesn't tell me much. reporter: candidates and super pacs have spent more than $11 million in the palmetto state to get their messages out. for some it's a sour taste. >> tired of all the commercials. it's annoying because it's like nobody ever keeps their word when they get in office anyway. reporter: being at the center of the political universe is nothing new, except for this man voting in his first election. >> i'm already decided. reporter: most diners here are undecided and say the economy and jobs are key issues here. south carolina's unemployment rate is 9.9% well above the national average of 8.5. in addition to the individual appearances by the candidates,

south carolina voters get to see them on stage once more before saturday's primary vote. in charleston, south carolina, craig boswell, fox news. a maryland nightclub shut down for good after a woman was killed there last summer. laura evans is everywhere at 11:00. >> the msg club in capitol heights known as pearl and mad chef, state attorney angela alsobrooks said the club's operating license expired three months before jasmine banks was killed in a drive-by shooting outside. now a new county law allows police to close clubs that don't have a dance hall permit or if they're considered a public safety threat. prince george's county police have arrested jamik sumby of fairmont heights charging him with first degree murder. he stabbed perry hunt to death during a fight last friday in an apartment complex on doewood lane in capitol heights. sumby moved his body then behind a trash bin. get ready for higher water and sewer fees. wssc looking to increase rates by 7.5% in montgomery and prince george's county. for most customers it would

mean about $5 a month more. some of that money would be used to improve aging infrastructure. superheros having sex, blood splattered fight scenes, i'm not talking about r rated movies. comic books that were once kid friendly has gotten an edgy makeover. check out some of the other stories on our rundown. the news edge will be right back. >> this is fox 5 news edge at 11:00. 

breaking news coming into the fox 5 newsroom involving repairs to the washington monument. a billionaire says he will donate the final $7.5 million needed to help fix the damage done by last summer's earthquake. philanthropist david ruben stein tells the associated press he felt inspired to donate the money after learning about the cracks and chipped phonework. the gift will be announced tomorrow morning -- stonework. the gift will be announced tomorrow morning in a news conference. tonight seven teenagers are under arrest for the brutal beating and robbery of a 17- year-old in chicago. the video shows several attackers kicking and punching the victim, even hitting him with his own shoes while shouting racial slurs. they stole nearly $200 other items. the victim suffered cuts and bruises. an accomplice posted the video

on youtube where it went viral until it was removed. blood, graphic violence and sex, it's what you'll find in the pages of dc comics today. the comic book company just went through an edgy makeover causing controversy among some fans. fox 5's sherri ly has the story. reporter: today's comic superheros would make archie and veronica blush. it's the new dc comics, batman, superman, wonderwoman, love it or hate it. >> they more or less darkened the characters up and today they introduce a lot more reality like homosexuality, adultery, all that stuff that's in books now today of. reporter: joe blackwell started reading comics when he was at, but they didn't look like this, batman and catwoman having sex on the rooftop, a drunken bruce wayne or blood splattered battles with heads whacked off. >> you know, it's sort of like a fictionalized playboy for kids at its worst. reporter: critics worry the

once family friendly genre has gone too far. psychologists point out the overexposure to sex and violence for young children can encourage aggression. >> i think too many kids will be put in harm's way or at least a risk. reporter: the female characters are more sexualized, one that is drawing attention is star fire shown here in a popular cartoon network tv series. and this is the same character in the comic red hood and the outlaws, much more voluptuous and scantily clad. >> it's a misrepresentation of reality. it sends the wrong message. ge. reporter: the comic mirrored today's movie superheros. the original batman tv show threw a lot of fake bloodless punches, but has since been replaced with a darker edgier batman. in the comic world that sells.

>> i think they're just trying to push the envelope and definitely got people's attention for it. reporter: jared smith, president of big planet comics, saw an initial surge in sales when the new comics premiered, although some turned off fans stopped buying. >> it made a lot of people unhappy or it was just something they didn't want to read. reporter: the comic books are rated teen and teen plus meaning they're not meant for younger children. so we went to a middle school to see what the kids here thought. >> there's a lot of sexual. it. reporter: how old do you think you should to be see this? >> i think around 16 or be a teenager, i guess. >> assemble. reporter: it looks like they're having sex, right? >> yeah, yeah. reporter: some weren't fazed at all. >> it's pretty awesome. it's good to look at because it has a lot of colors. reporter: the images of bloody bodies are accompanied by ads for legos and milk. >> why are we advertising to little kids in a comic book rated for mature teens? what's going on here?

what's wrong with this picture? reporter: this store owner tells parents these comics aren't for kids and points them another direction. >> there's definitely a shift on some of them towards i'd say a much more r rated type of comic book. reporter: don't expect that to change. dc comics is banking this is the future. sherri ly, fox news. >> dc comics would not give us a comment. experts say the bottom line is parents need to know what their kids read. >> all right. trying to get over the hump here towards the weekend, looking like it's going to be cold. >> it is for the most part. we still have a couple days that will touch 50 degrees, but we're getting into kind of the heart of the coldest part of the year and things can change rapidly in the forecast. we have a weather app here at www.myfoxdc.com. we would love you to grab it

and you know what you'll get with this? not only will you see our video forecast updates and the twitter updates from our fox weather team which we'll do all day long, but you can see an hourly forecast, a great radar and a tin-day forecast. it's free. you can get it -- a 10-day forecast. it's free. you can get it from the app store for your iphone. one of the things we'll be watching not only on our weather app but tomorrow on radar is some flurry activity, maybe a snow shower that might come through in the late evening hours, maybe around this time tomorrow night. then the next thing we'll focus on, this is why we talk about a lot of changes this time of year, official for some friday night into saturday morning -- potential for some friday night into saturday morning wintery mix, change over to a cold rain at some point saturday.

so there is a lot to keep an eye on, little things, nothing big yet, but some signs winter is trying to get going across the country. i'll show you in a moment. first we had a pretty big lake effect snow event friday into saturday. strong winds today did not result in as much snow across the lakes, but a couple streamers made it into maryland. we did get some pictures from meyersville, maryland, of a little snow there you can find on our app. we've been talking about the big snowstorm that pushed into seattle moving across the country. perhaps you can see it here, a little moisture gathering up with a frontal system. the front is part of a clipper coming in our direction tomorrow and will reinforce the chill in the area. we certainly got about a kick back into winter today. the strong winds transported all that colder air. winchester 21 degrees, germantown 22, a real cold start for the kids in the morning. you don't need to worry about the wind, but it's going to be

really cold. the wind has settled down. d.c. will droop to 27 degrees. thursday will start out -- drop to 27 degrees. thursday will start out sunny, get up to 42 degrees, about typical for this time of year. the clouds will roll in in the afternoon. when i say late day flurries, t 11:00, we'll watch this front moving through. it might be able to transport some of the flurries or snow showers with it. sometimes it doesn't. clippers tend to drive us crazy in the weather department. we have to watch them constantly. the temperature drops through the night tomorrow. we start out at 31 tomorrow, sunshine. by noon we're 40, a few clouds, a lot of sunshine still. clouds are pretty thick by 5:00 with a temperature of 39 degrees. it's beyond that time when we might see flurries moving in tomorrow night. la plata a high of 43 degrees tomorrow, annapolis 41 degrees. then we'll look forward into the weekend for friday night, saturday, maybe some mix.

our temperature eventually get up to 41, but this might be a wedge or cold air damming situation, so we might have to watch for little freezing rain. sunday we'll have to watch, could be late rain coming in and a few showers sunday and temperatures back up to 50 degrees. hey, we're coming right back. dave ross has a great sports report, so don't go away.

this is the nissan sports desk in hd with dave ross. >> hello. let's be honest. put your hand up if you thought

the wizards with the worst record in the entire nba 1-12 had any chance of beating kevin durant and the thunder who were scoring the nba's best record before tonight's game. put your land down. jason campbell in the very front row with ted leonsis and his son zach. late in the 1st half they saw a pretty good game. jordan crawford going to turn it over. here come the thunder. russell westbrook throwing it down. that's what he does, thunder up 5 at the break. you thought okay, we'll roll them over in the 2nd half, but no, the wizards fight back. crawford on the line and look at john wall getting up to throw it down, a team high 25. we're tied at 76, yeah. the wizards hang around. late in the 4th what a night for nick young, a three here, 22 of the 24 in the 2nd half, wizards dealing it up but kevin durant for the tie in overtime off the back of the iron. can you believe it? he has 36, but it's not enough.

the wizards shock the thunder 105-102 for victory no. 2. >> we did the little things you need to do when playing basketball. it's something we continue to work on and stress. we get frustrated when they don't do it. the question was asked how does it affect? it affects now when you do those little things and it results in wins. how about college hoops? george mason hosting delaware, 1st half ryan pearson picking off the errant pass and the easy steel and slam, game high 24. mason never headed in this one. later in the half it's the paris bennett to mike morrison connection. mason pounds delaware 89-63. how about gw hosting richmond tonight. point guard tony taylor scored 23, but he can also pass it right here for two of his 21 from the baseline. gw downs the spider 83-65.

american defeats navy 67-60. tonight the caps begin a three-game stint north of the border against the canadians. interesting twist because hockey has a way of policing itself. nick backstrom hasn't played since january 3rd for the caps since taking an elbow to the face from the flames renee bay york bay renee boric. later in the game it was time for payback. the wrister gets by carrie price. the price is wrong. caps up 1 -0. later in the 2nd on the power play it's the semin to ovechkin, his 19th of the year and the caps defeat the canadians 3 -0.

don't go anywhere, brian bolter back to wrap up the edge right when we get back. ♪ i'm feelin' subway ♪ let's go [ male announcer ] hey, capital area! are you feelin' subway®? then heat up your day with the big hot pastrami melt! it's fresh toasted and piled-high with pastrami, then topped with pickles, mustard, and cheese. head into a subway® restaurant today for this melty, mouthwatering sub! ♪ let's go

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look! here she comes! ♪ she'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes... ♪ ♪hen she comes. ♪ it'll be spinning new chrome wheels when it comes. ♪ ♪ when it comes. ♪ custom spoiler, race grade pistons, ♪ ♪ gt35 turbo charger. ♪ and they'll all know that it's kevin's awesome car. ♪ bought em! ( clears throat ) sorry. when it's on your mind, it's on ebay. taking the edge off. acture rob lowe sent the social media rumor mill into high gear this afternoon. lowe said he'd heard from "my people" that peyton manning would retire today. the colts qb is recovering from a neck injury, has yet to

respond, but manning's father reportedly laughed off the report. lowe is a friend of the team owner. the owner laughed in response and said lowe would star in a porn movie. now you have the news edge. the news is always on www.myfoxdc.com. thanks for staying up late as always. it's where you spend a lifetime so your kids can go to college. so you can actually visit that beach proudly displayed on your monitor.